Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.

Kensey Nash Earnings Preview

Kensey Nash will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Oct. 20.

Investors never know what to expect for Kensey Nash(Nasdaq: KNSY), as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Oct. 20. Kensey Nash is engaged in developing, manufacturing, and processing resorbable biomaterials products, incorporating its proprietary collagen and synthetic polymer technology.

What analysts say:

Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Kensey Nash while the remaining half rate the stock as a buy. Analysts like Kensey Nash better than competitor Wright Medical Group overall. Six out of 16 analysts rate Wright Medical Group a buy compared to three of six for Kensey Nash. Kensey Nash's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.

Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $19.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 13.8% from the year-ago quarter.

Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.31 per share. Estimates range from $0.30 to $0.32.

What our community says:CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 78.9% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 83.3% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Kensey Nash, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 38 posts in the past 30 days. Kensey Nash's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 11.7 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue fell 14.5% while cost of sales rose 23.3% to $7.1 million from a year earlier.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

61.9%

69.3%

63.5%

75.1%

Operating Margin

23.7%

(65.1%)

28.7%

36.4%

Net Margin

15.7%

(43.3%)

19.2%

22.7%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Kensey Nash movements -- and for more analysis on the company -- make sure you add it to your Watchlist.